GAME REVIEW: JellyBalls by HyperBees

JellyBalls

The folks at Hyperbees were kind enough to send me their new Android title, JellyBalls. It’s a take on the popular colour-matching genre, with some added extras to make it stand out from the rest. I’d guess you’re all familiar with this type of game so instead of going on about what you’re supposed to do, I’ll highlight how it differs from its competition:

Design – sometimes I’ve found Android games have excellent gameplay, but they look horrendous or sometimes the in-game grahpics are well done but the menu system is a mess. JellyBeans has it just right, they’ve thought through all the design aspects and made a game where the design is consistent (though nothing spectacular I’ll admit) from start to finish. The animations are great, and the balls actually bounce when on the screen like jelly beans.

Gameplay – there’s plenty of game modes to choose from. I prefer the “Get them all” mode which has an element of puzzle/logic built in, it makes me think and often plan out the moves in advance to make sure I achieve the desired goal. For normal mode I’ve never really understood if there is a trick to it, and instead tend to click at random and hope for a fluke. The gameplay is smooth, the levels get gradually more difficult and I’ve found myself playing this game throughout the week during my commute even if it’s only for a 4 minute local train.

Social Features – it’s becoming the norm for games to include some form of socialising method within the game. JellyBeans uses ScoreLoop to allow you to submit your scores to the leaderboards and view your score ranked against others (including global, country, friends and scores submitted in the last 24 hours)

Pricing – at 99cents (60-70p?) is a fair price for the game. It seems to be a standard price for Android apps/games and this is the kind of game that’ll keep you occupied during those little moments of time that just aren’t long enough to get anything useful done in

The Bad

no save games – the main thing lacking from JellyBeans is the ability to continue a game after you quit. Ideally I’d want to start a game, stop for whatever reason and then carry one where I left off. From the level of updates to other games HyperBees have published I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s one released for this game enabling game saves in the near future.

The Verdict

4.5/5

It’s a top game and probably the only one of it’s genre that I’d even consider playing thanks to it’s puzzle game mode. It’s professionally designed, developed and published at an affordable price. It’s an addictive little gem which has already proven to be very useful for a bit of a time waste.

Market Description:
JellyBalls is an eye-pleasing casual game where you pop same colour balls.
Enjoy multiple game modes and hours of gameplay. Compete with friends through global leaderboard. Includes 5 arcade and logical modes.
The classic favourite takes on a whole new dimension.Screenshots (click to enlarge)Download